As I was washing the car today I noticed that there was quite a bit of rust coming through on the lower sills (I'll add pictures in a bit) on both sides and along most of the way between the wheels.

The car was registered in April 2007, so not quite 7 years old.

I believe Skoda have a 7 year 'rust' warranty but don't know whether its worth pursuing or not or even what Skoda could/would do about it.

Our neighbour took his 57 plate Golf back in November this year with rust on the boot lid and VW replaced it with a new one no question.

I've also got rust patches where the bottom corner of the front doors appear to have been catching the main body work (pictures to follow).

What do people think of the rust I've got and my chances of getting Skoda to do anything about it?

Also, how do I go about informing Skoda?

Go to the local dealer on spec? Book an appointment? Contact SUK direct?

Any advice would be much appreciated as I've not had to do this before.

Passenger side under front door:

Drivers side just behind mud flap and slight further back

Have you had the car since new? I have Fabia combi 07 and there is no anti stone-chip paint on it anywhere. Sills are like new and I put over 260,000 km on her now, a good few of them on roads that could only be compared to sheep tracks. Just thinking maybe some remedial work may have been carried out in the past?

The terms of the Skoda Body Protection warranty are on page 6 of the document which you can download below.

http://www.skoda.co.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Brochures/Warranty-Booklet-single.pdf

I'm the second owner which I guess will cause some issues. But note that it's 12 years rust warranty...

My wife's Fabia ('03) also has no protection and no rust with similar mileage to my Octavia.

There is a full Skoda service history with the car and nothing suggests any work has been done, but there there is nowhere to officially record that sort of work.

Edited 3 January, 201412 yr by KBPhoto

It looks to me that the paint has chipped off and the corrosion is starting where the paint is chipped.  The corrosion warranty covers corrosion from the inside of the panel outwards.  I think that you'll be lucky to get that done under warranty.

I had my boot done at 10 years old and they looked closely to see if it was chips, they said it was first because one bit was but then i said what about the rest....

On sills... good luck with that!

Maybe.

It just seems weird that when I washed the car thoroughly two months ago there was nothing and now there is quite a bit which seems to be worst a couple of inches behind the mudflaps.

Thanks for your thoughts though. I have contacted my local Skoda dealer and will await a response.

My 2007Octavia estate had some very small rust bubbles appear on the rear tailgate on each side of the number plate. I am the second owner, it has Skoda service history, contacted my local dealer, (Progress Northampton), they inspected, took photographs and sent off to head office. Within 2 weeks, car taken away, new tailgate fitted, no charge.   

It seems the tailgate is something VAG do replace under warranty as it's pretty hard to argue that its down to stone chips.

I doubt I'll get anywhere, but it's worth a shot as it's come on so quickly.

We have a friend with a camera on a bendy thing that will hopefully enable us to look for rusting from the insides.

Will see what that shows as well.

Must firstly thank Startin Skoda in Powick (Worcester) for their time today in looking at the rust and most of all for explaining it fully to me afterwards.

The end result is that it's not covered because there has been a repair to the sills already!

They had pleanty if reasons how they knew this, nearly all if which I agreed with. The only one I questioned was the paint thickness which seemed to vary across the car by quite large amounts. Even on parts that had been 'dip painted' as part of the manufacturing process.

Seems I'm looking at a large bill to have it all done again or auction the car off 'as is'...

Unless you know of any other options or have an idea of costs involved in replacing both sills properly.

Remedial work it was then! I wouldn't have thought by looking at the pictures that sill replacement is required?

1)Take all the paint back to bare metal.

2)Apply Kurust or similar product.

3)Apply new stone chip and put some colour on top.

4)Make sure drain holes in the bottom of the sill are not blocked.

5)Have a look how the job is keeping up in six months time.

Some additional info:

There is evidence that the sill has been replaced as there is a join line evident infrint of the rear wheel arch in the fold of the door shut. This is starting to rust;

The drain bungs underneath are all squashed into the holes - the near side ones have been over sprayed with the riply protective stuff;

The ridge where the jack sits does not meet properly in all places, especially by the front hacking point;

There is evidence of significant paint overspray on the B pillar (c.9-13 in most places up to 60 in one spot) which should have been dip painted.

I'll post some more pictures of these when I get a chance.